[0:00] This morning is our first communion service of the new year. It's a good way to start the new year. And so open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And let's stand together. I want to read the text. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I'll wait a few seconds to hear those pages turning. And I'm going to start reading from verse 23, Paul writing.

[0:33] For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take ye, this is my body which is broken for you. do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Thank you again, Lord, for your word. And thank you, Lord, that we can partake of communion together and just reflect what you've done, mighty sacrifice on our behalf. And so bless this time we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. You can all be seated.

[1:41] The title of the message this morning is Broken for You. Broken for You. And so, you know, keep in mind, some people make what is called a New Year's resolution, right? At New Year's time. And I don't do that because I can't do that.

[2:05] When I mess up, which I do, it's like, well, I have to wait now till next year to make another New Year's resolution. It's a bummer. And so rather, I do appreciate God's way of grace and counsel, for example, the Lord says then in Luke 9, he says, then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. And so you might say that God's counsel is a new day's resolution.

[2:52] New Day Resolution. And so he goes on to say, Jesus says in Matthew 6, verse 33 and 34, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own thing, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And so I thought about that because with the New Year's resolution, there's 364 tomorrows to worry about. And I don't want to do that, you know. And so I like God's counsel, take up your cross today and follow me. And His mercies, the Bible tells us is new every morning.

[3:47] Lamentations 3, 22 and 23 says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. So I like to keep it simple one day at a time, you know, and so, And so I don't make New Year's resolutions. You know, some people do and, you know, more power to you if you can do that. But I personally cannot. And so we have in this text...

[4:24] In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in this text, in times past, we've really dissected the scriptures here. But for this morning's communion message, we're going to go through it. I'm going to highlight these verses, and then I'm going to double back to verse 24, where we consider the words of Jesus broken for you. That's the title today. And so this section is the institution of the Lord's Supper. And first, this meal traditionally is the Passover celebration. And so the Jewish people once a year would gather and they'd celebrate the Passover together. And so the two years previous to this one, Jesus would have celebrated the Passover. With his disciples. And all the years of his growing up, he would have celebrated the Passover with his family growing up. But this particular Passover, also known as the Lord's Supper, no longer would be celebrating the Passover, but it would be instituting the communion service or the Lord's Supper.

[5:53] And so because we know that the scriptures clearly tell us that Jesus Christ is our Passover, And the symbolism of the Passover was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5, 7, it says, Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. And so we are the unleavened, the forgiven, those made pure, those acceptable by God because of Jesus Christ. And so many Jews may still have as a tradition celebrating the Passover feast, but then adding Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. I was blessed this morning because as my wife is getting ready to teach her class, her Sunday school class, she's buzzing around and all of a sudden she's cutting up apples and she's got all this stuff and she's boiling potatoes and she's doing all these things and then she's.

[7:13] Run to Fred Myers and buy some lamb. And what are you doing? Well, I'm going to show the kids what the Passover celebration is all about and how it points to Jesus Christ. And so she was busy this morning. And so I just was blessed by that because it's important that we recognize the importance of communion. In verse 23, the Apostle Paul, he says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And so as I'm blessed because the, last supper. He then received directly from the Holy Spirit what took place on that. The Lord spoke to his heart in the same way that each of us would receive from the Lord and be blessed in that way. And he emphasizes this took place on the very night that Jesus was betrayed.

[8:29] That caught my attention, always does, because in my opinion, the worst human experience is betrayal. And I'm so thankful I've never been betrayed. I've been spared that trial. I have been disappointed, you know, as all of us have. I have been let down and I've even been abandoned. But that's not betrayal. Never betrayed. It means to give over, to deliver into the hand of another. It speaks of treachery and, in my words, committing treason in a relationship with another. It's the highest level of disloyalty or unfaithfulness against someone, revealing confidential information, breaking trust for the purpose of intentionally hurting someone else. Betrayal. Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. The disciples abandoned him. Big difference.

[9:39] And so, if you've been betrayed, if that's happened to you, Jesus endured that for you. So that he can be your deliverer. You know, the Bible tells us concerning Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 4, it says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and so boldly come before the Lord.

[10:39] And so Jesus Christ experienced that and some of you may have experienced that, but yet you can boldly come to Jesus Christ as your deliverer because what he has done for you. Jesus endured the worst experiences so that you and I could be delivered. Amen? Amen. Verse 24. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so he had given thanks, experiencing the most brutal events, betrayal to kick off the whole thing. He gave thanks, facing the cross, literally facing crucifixion. Why? The Bible says because of joy. The Bible says, because of joy, and it tells us in Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The joy was you and me.

[12:03] And in real time. I say that, you know, for us, we talk about something happening in real time. Well, when you speak about God, real time is eternal time. In other words, is he would be going to the cross for the joy every single one of us who come to faith was right there in his mind. Our name, who we were, the very number of hairs on our head, as he died for us in real time, eternal time. Perfect perspective of eternity. And so for that joy, nobody was excluded. It wasn't like, well, the joy included those he knew in his human circle. No, for the joy, for eternal joy of each one of us. And so it's hard. Our mind goes kind of like that. That's okay. That's why we worship.

[13:03] And God is good. But his actions in the midst of that, he's giving thanks. It's the same actions from Paul and Silas. When Paul and Silas were, you know, in Acts 16, the context there, they're faithfully obeying God. Then they're beaten brutally. They're dragged into prison. They're shackled and locked down there in prison. And then it picks up in Acts 16, 25. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake that the foundations of the prison was shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And so the prisoners were listening to them praise the Lord. They probably seen them get dragged across their cells while they were being put in prison. Why are they singing to God? Why are they praying? And so they were all listening to what Paul and Silas were singing. But you know what was more important that the prisoners were listening? What was more important is that God was listening.

[14:29] It didn't matter so much that the prisoners were listening. That was great, great testimony. But then God put power behind the testimony. And when the doors flew open and all their chains were loosed, that said that God was listening. And I believe to this day the same thing. God is listening to our response and our praise. And then that's where the power comes from. And so he's listening. Even when it's in the silence of our own heart, that's like a megaphone, our thoughts, a megaphone to God. And so Jesus gave thanks and take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. And so as we listen this morning, we first take what's being said in relationship personally, and then we become part of the body. But it starts with our personal choices. Then we become part.

[15:34] And so it's for you. Insert your name there and do this in remembrance. And so again, a personal recalling is the idea. You're recalling something that you've been shown. Your eyes have been opened. Now you're remembering, once again, a refresher course, you might say, in what Jesus Christ has done for you. When we celebrate 4th of July...

[16:06] In the United States of America, it's intended for us to know what 4th of July means. Now, it's my guess that some are celebrating the 4th of July, fireworks and everything else. But if you were to ask them, what does the 4th of July mean?

[16:25] They might not even know. I don't know. It's a firework day, you know. and um but even though that's whatever how important it is why that we would know why we're celebrating communion why we're participating in communion and we see that here that jesus says i want you to remember because those of us who know are more likely if we're not commanded to forget i don't want to think about that i don't want to watch the passion of the christ again I've seen it once. It's enough. And then I don't want to know the brutality. I don't remember the brutality of somebody's death. But Jesus says, no, I want you to remember the brutality of my death. And so we're commanded to do that. And we say, okay, Lord. In the same manner, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. And so Jesus stresses here now the transition into the new covenant. That's what he's stressing. This is the new covenant in my blood. So God's saying I'm changing things up right now. And this do as often as you drink it so we can be flexible in our communion time. Some churches once a week.

[17:49] Some churches once a month, you know, and so we can be flexible in that. But as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, that's what's important. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Now that is amazing because first we see it's a temporal ordinance. We're going to do this until he comes, and we're proclaiming that he's coming. And that's called the blessed hope. We read that when we passed through Titus just a couple weeks back. Titus 2, 13, 14, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works. And so by his own planning this happened to redeem us that was the joy and to purify us were the unleavened bread.

[19:07] That's spoken of, the absence of sin that would condemn us by the work of Jesus Christ. And so when we say Maranatha, we're saying, come Lord Jesus. That's actually what it means. And Maranatha, we have that in 1 Corinthians 16.22. But I want to point out here where it says, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed because of that judged.

[19:45] And then he says, Maranatha in the King James. In the New King James, it says, O Lord, come. And so we say Maranatha, and it means come Lord Jesus.

[20:01] And so that's our desire. In verse 27, if we continue on here, it says, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord, in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Now, this isn't speaking of us being worthy to partake. That's not the idea. Because we understand by Scripture that we're worthy because Jesus Christ is worthy.

[20:37] And he has, you know, given us, clothe us, if you will, in his righteousness. Not our own so it's not us earning being worthy but what this is saying there is that we won't have a casual observance an attitude of non-repentance as we would come into this time of communion but rather having you know not a careless view of the cross not not acknowledgement of the sacrifice that it cost Jesus Christ of what we're reflecting on, what we're remembering here. And so, you know, we're to understand just how huge, you know, this is. And so not to partake, you know, in an unworthy manner.

[21:32] And so, and I would say here, owning it. Not, you know, yeah, but at this time, fully owning up to it. You're the person. You're it. You're the one that caused Jesus Christ to hang on the cross. That's the idea.

[22:02] You know, this is no time for blame shifting, for excuses. No, you're the one. If you're saved, you need to understand that. It's your sins that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. And so, not an unworthy manner. But let a man examine himself. See, this clarifies verse 27. Let a man examine himself. So let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Clarifying the attitude of heart, coming to terms with personal issues and sins and struggles, because we all have the same ones. You're no different. You know, life situations, to ignore dealing with whatever it is at this time is not good.

[23:01] Because God would have us to deal with it. That's what communion is, coming to terms. And it's between you and God. I don't need to know what those struggles are. Only God needs to know. And when he knows, that's good enough. You have that conversation with him. You know, I don't need to sit behind some veiled room somewhere. You talk through a screen and be a middleman. No, you talk directly to God about this. you know and so and so you need to examine yourself so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup after that self-examination you notice examine himself and then it goes on for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged.

[24:07] But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. And so you notice now for the believer, this is never a condemnation that is eternal.

[24:33] For a believer, we understand that the judgment is a temporal judgment because Jesus Christ died that we might have everlasting life. But somehow or another, Christians in this life complicate things. And they get off track and they do their own things and they get back into sin. And then because our heavenly father is faithful, he chastises us with various disciplines, depending on the necessary discipline. He knows, father knows best. And so we're to not eat in an unworthy manner. But if you do, if you are those, you're not discerning the Lord's body, what he did, considering those things. You're not doing that. And so, again, not making a distinction, not connecting the dots back to the cross and your personal responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ on your behalf. You just sort of, you know, dismiss that, and you don't really care about it anymore for some reason. You think, can a Christian do that? Yeah.

[25:54] Forget about it. Yeah, you get caught up in life. You don't resist temptation. And then there's a judgment. It's a temporal judgment for Christians again. And so who have this bad attitude, this careless attitude in communion. And so before we partake of communion, I hope that's none of us. I hope that we're, you know, tracking together. And because he says, you know, for some, it's the discipline. There's many that are weak. So this is not just a few, but many that are weak. And then when you look up that word there in the Greek, it seems to be spiritual anemia, spiritually weak. So in other words, you know, they're lacking the power. They're lacking the discernment. They're lacking the wisdom, everything cutting edge to needing to serve the Lord. And also the sick. And then that seems to point to a physical anemia of strength. And so your physical body is actually, you know, weakened to the point of being sick with whatever, just because of this attitude and God disciplining you to get your attention. I like to be the one that's super sensitive to discipline of the Lord, where he just has to just go like that to me, just tap me. And I'm going, OK, Lord, you know, some need to get hit with a hammer. And, you know, where at one time in my life, I was me.

[27:21] But I don't want to be that. And I'd rather learn, I know it sounds horrible, but by other people's mistakes.

[27:29] You know, I look at people and I've watched over the years since the early 80s of ministry. And I've watched people. Not good. I watched Christians. Go this, every single one of those. All the way to the last one, which is most extreme. Or to sleep, most severe. Death. Thank you. That God deems necessary in these bodies to get the person's attention before they move off into heaven. Death, God knows. I've seen all of that, and I just shake my head thinking, I don't want to do that. And so, you know, I want to have a heart after the Lord. And what's so cool, once again, what you did yesterday, what you did this morning has no bearing on what you can do here in this service.

[28:15] All you have to do is say, Lord, forgive me. And you know what? I'm amazed when I study the Old Testament and these kings that are doing all these crazy things against the Lord. And then an army's coming down to destroy them and then they repent and God says, okay, I forgive you. And then he takes care of the oncoming enemy. It's like, God is so gracious. It's amazing. So we sit here and we did whatever or what's going on in our lives. And we just say, Lord, forgive me. And then you wholeheartedly can partake of communion. Don't let the devil get in there. When you say, Lord, forgive me, you're forgiven. You know, even when there's consequences that come from things you might do, that don't matter. That doesn't eliminate you from partaking of communion. You come clean.

[28:59] And so then it says, but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord. There's this one that we may not be condemned with the world. There's the separation. It speaks of the temporary scolding discipline, the purpose for correction, for our benefit, and the benefit of others who are watching you that could be damaged just because of your actions and so forth. But notice verse 32 continues that we are not condemned. That speaks of the judgment that leads to eternal judgment. the judgment we have been delivered from. Jesus took that full wrath, that condemnation on our part so that we can be saved.

[29:54] That's what Jesus Christ did for us. And so then in verse 33 there, we wait for one another. That just means that we've had a talk. We've considered some things. And now you have to choose in your heart. And so we wait for one another. And that waiting period is when the ushers are passing out the bread and the cup. The worship team is leading us in another worship song. That's us waiting for one another. And so when you have to clear the air and talk to the Lord, that's when you do it. Because after that, then I come up and then we partake together. So we wait for one another, giving each that little bit of time. There isn't much time there, but there's enough time. Because, you know, it doesn't take a lot of time to repent, you know. It doesn't take a lot of time to sort things out. And so then we double back there to verse... Verse 24, I'm even on the wrong pages here. Hold on here. Verse 24, where it says there, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Considering that, you know, describes Jesus, again, willingly being broken for us. Simply means, to use the New Testament of the breaking of bread for communion.

[31:22] But what's interesting is when you connect the dots to what Jesus said, for instance, in John chapter 6, when he said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me, I should not lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Jesus made that promise and that hope to us because of his sacrifice. He also said, John 6, 58, this is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.

[32:34] Not the man in the wilderness. That was a temporary feeding. This is eternal life. Jesus also said in John 8, he says, and he said to them, you are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. And so, you know, we have Peter who also reminds us in Acts 4.12, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so, in a moment, when the ushers come, Let's take this time again to bring our hearts and our wills before the Lord. Let's not carry any longer things that have caused us to compromise and commit to the Lord once again, if necessary, in remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

[33:51] Amy Carmichael prayed, Thou wast broken, O my Lord, for me. Let me be broken, Lord, for love of thee. And I would just say, you know, let that be our heart's prayer. It certainly follows the example of Jesus Christ when he was in the garden. Remember, just before his arrest, he prayed this in Luke 22. And he was withdrawn from them. They're the disciples about a stone's throw. and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then he sweat became like great drops of blood, falling down to the ground. And so Jesus, even in the end there, was showing that in his human body, He didn't want to have to endure this, but because it was the will of God and...

[35:03] And his will also, as God, to endure that. And so I would just remind you now as we wait for one another, just get that right before the Lord. And then I'll come up and hold that cup and bread. And then I'll come and we'll pray together and partake. Lord Jesus, thank you for your word once again, Lord. And I just ask God that you would have your way in our hearts and in our lives and in this church and in our families and use us in this community as a lighthouse, as a city on the hill, to have a testimony that's powerful, the one that, God, you can empower to minister to our neighbors and our family members and those we come in contact with and to one another in building up one another to better serve you, to bless you. And so thank you, Lord, for this time as we remember that our eyes are opened and just to enjoy the truth that we understand. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.